Gurgaon residents say they have had enough

Inspired by the ‘Gurgaon Collapsing’ series carried by the Hindustan Times, the Joint Action Forum of Resident Welfare Associations (JAFRA) on Sunday announced an action plan against the Haryana government, reports Sanjeev K. Ahuja.

The 'organisation of retired people’ has decided to act and take matters in their own hands.

Inspired by the ‘Gurgaon Collapsing’ series carried by the Hindustan Times, the Joint Action Forum of Resident Welfare Associations (JAFRA) on Sunday announced an action plan against the Haryana government.

The forum, which represents almost all resident bodies in Gurgaon, has threatened to take to the streets, go on hunger strikes, organise road blockages and take on bureaucrats if things did not move within few days. The forum members said the agencies had failed to act on the infrastructure front and “ruined the city”.

Rattan Singh, chairman of the forum, said, “The ‘Gurgaon Collapsing’ series by Hindustan Times has been successful in moving top government functionaries, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. They promised to do their bit for infrastructure and basic amenities issues but we are still to see changes. We do not believe the glib promises the state government has made by placing full-page advertisements in various newspapers.”

On Sunday, a meeting of residents welfare association, under the aegis of the joint action forum, was held and the members unanimously passed a resolution to launch an agitation against the government.

Singh said, “We have decided to keep the officials on their toes. We do not want the momentum set by Hindustan Times to slow down. We want them to be aware of their responsibilities towards Gurgaon.”

“We are not impressed with advertisement campaigns claiming to spend crores of rupees on roads, water and power infrastructure and other amenities. The people want to see things moving on the ground.”

Another forum member, B.D. Pahuja, said all the members would soon take to the streets and “shed its reputation of being the organisations of retired old people”.

“We would have retired ambassadors, former IAS officials, including retired chief secretaries and deputy secretaries, as well as intellectuals agitating under the open sky. We have had enough of corruption and government apathy,” he added.

P.K. Jain, another office bearer of JAFRA, said the residents of this so-called Millennium City Gurgaon are shocked as well as angry at the non-accountability of government officials who have their strings attached to the headquarters in Chandigarh and Panchkula.